11/29/09

It pays to shop early for the holidays. When buying gifts online, elect for ground service instead of air-shipping. Not only does ground-shipping use less fuel, but it usually costs less, too. Also, have the items shipped to where delivery trucks already go on a regular basis, such as your office. And shop online and remove your name from catalogs to lessen even more waste.

11/28/09

More mall madness: Bring your old eyeglasses to any Lenscrafters store. They'll fix the glasses up and give them to visually impaired people in need, as part of their OneSight program. Learn more at www.lenscrafters.com

11/27/09

If you must hit the malls this Black Friday, do a little recycling when you're there. Bring your old cell phone to a Call2Recycle box. It's a program from the nonprofit Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. that will recycle your phone, for free, into new metal products. You'll find these collection boxes in stores like RadioShack, Best Buy and Home Depot or just visit www.call2recycle.org for one of 30,000 drop-off locations nearest you.